Clydesdale MP David Mundell visited the African country of Malawi as the part of the celebrations to mark 200 years since the birth of Lanarkshire explorer David Livingstone.

He met President Joyce Banda and presented her with a book about David Livingstone. He also said he hoped she would visit the UK to mark the county explorer’s bi-centenary.

Dr Livingstone travelled extensively in Malawi and is still a highly revered figure there.

Mr Mundell visited Thawale Primary School, which has a kitchen built by Mary’s Meals charity from money collected by schoolchildren in Scotland.

He helped serve the fortified porridge prepared in the kitchen.

Mr Mundell said: “The head teacher, Mr Hansden Malefula, wanted me to eat some in front of the children to show that I thought it was a good thing to eat. It isn’t sweet enough to meet my sweet-tooth requirements, but it was probably better for me than the honey I pour over my porridge.”

“The message from Thawale School is that people back in Scotland can make a real difference to people in Malawi – simply by the twinning of schools and the fundraising for Mary’s Meals.”

Mr Mundell went to the David Livingstone Clinic and then the Kamzu Hospital to meet doctors and nurses who had received Scottish scholarships. He spoke to female prisoners at a prison in Denza, where a paralegal training programme is giving prisoners access to basic justice.

Mr Mundell said: “I have helped train paralegals in Rwanda and Sierra Leone and was very pleased to meet some paralegals on a project DfID are supporting when I visited the prison at Denza.

“In the past, people have languished for years in such prisons without ever being brought to trial.

“I had the opportunity to address prisoners which is always a bit of a challenge, but they do welcome the fact there is international concern for the conditions, with one of the prisoners replying to my words in a very articulate way and with perfect English.”

In Blantyre he met with business leaders, visited the site where the Livingstone missionaries camped, saw the church built there, and learned about Church of Scotland-funded work on combating AIDS/HIV.

While in Malawi he also met with a number of Malawian Ministers and discussed how trade could be improved, and how Malawi could make itself a more attractive place for companies from Scotland and the rest of Britain to do business.